Will Muslim Leagues Unite? Will We See A New PM?

The imposition of governor rule in Punjab has prompted the factions of Muslim League to realise that this is an attempt of PPP to encroach in their territory. In fact, the PPP has already advanced in the PML zone and this act may just backfire with the unification of PML-N and PML-Q. Can this really happen? There are two important questions that need to be answered.

1. Will the Chaudhrys trust Zardari, given his recent history to break promises and his long-term animosity with them?

2. Will the Chaudhrys and Sharifs patchup?

Any one of these two WILL happen, and that will decide the future direction.

Given the fact that PML-Q has been humiliated in the elections for standing by Pervez Musharraf, there wwill be reluctance among their ranks for supporting PPP, which is widely believed to be following what is touted as Musharraf’s agenda. There have been rumours that Chaudhry Shujaat is asking for the position of Chairman Senate for himself, and the seat of CM Punjab for Moonis Elahi. Again, this may not be popular in their own party primarily because the members were earlier not happy with the leadership of Chaudhrys. And any such deal will directly affect the Chaudhry family rather than providing any benefit to the PML-Q, the party. Then comes the issue of trust. Why will PML-Q believe that PPP will not try to interfere in the politics of Punjab even if CM belongs to PML-Q. It is not a secret that Punjab is the key to rule the center and PPP will try to tighten its grip in Punjab. If a deal is struck between PPP and PML-Q agitation in Punjab will not cease.

The second, and more plausible, option is the (re)unification of PML. Or atleast, support in the assemblies. This can even lead to the overthrow of PPP’s government in center. Since Shahbaz Sharif is now disqualified to be the CM, and Nawaz disqualified to be the PM, it is clear that the future PM from PML-N will be Shahbaz Sharif (an amendment in the Constitution is unlikely in my view). Can PML (N and Q) agree on power sharing formula such that one of them gets the center while the other enjoys Punjab? Certainly possible with the increase in meetings between the members of both the parties…BUT..what about Sindh? Any such government changes will lead to agitation in Sindh! Will MQM join hands with them? They have enjoyed good relations with PML-Q but not with PML-N. Obviously they can join anyone under the banner of national interest.

The second option does look good on paper but the bigger problem is that a change in the leader of House (PM) can easily be resisted by the all-powerful President!

The situation is very complex and conflicting. PPP and PML(N and Q) have a tight hold over one province atleast. In case of any elections, I don’t see them losing grip in their stronghold. In fact, the grip will be tightened. This, sadly, means that whoever forms a government in center will have atleast one large province out of control. Punjab is important from strategic point of view in running the government, while Sindh (read Karachi) is important from economic point of view. The only way out is a harmony, trust and reconciliation. Given the history, this is next to impossible.

Pakistan Ka Khuda Hafiz

My Highs & Lows of 2008

What’s good about a new year? To be honest, nothing is good about it given the extra effort needed at the time of speech delivery to make sure you don’t say next year to things which are suddenly going to happen in this year and the added mental effort of making sure you jot the correct digit when writing down the date. However, the new year, or end of an year can serve as a benchmark to have a look at the things and events that happened in the past year. Looking back myself, I can say with certainty that this year had events that will remain ingrained in my memories forever.

The beginning of year 2008 was a good time for me. I was done with my final semester exams looking at various options to shape my career. As soon as the year started I knew the next two-and-a-half months would be extremely busy. Being the sole driver in my family (with my dad in UAE), only son, and only brother of my dear sister it was me who had to make sure all her wedding arrangements were meticulously handled. I didn’t apply for jobs at that time, hoping to secure an admission in some MSc course. I also knew the next few days would be spent shopping with my mom. This wasn’t all that bad: shopping at Tariq Road with ladies around (more…)

Story Of THAT Car!

CAUTION: This is a long story written out of extreme boredom AND I suck at story-telling.

It was a Thursday night and time was not on our side, so wasn’t luck. Things were getting tougher as the deadline drew near. As I recall with my bad memory, only a week was left to finish off the task before flying out. There was uncertainty about the end but the determination was rock-solid. We weren’t aware of the time, day or night. Only one (maybe two) thing was on our minds – victory (and defeat too).

On this particular Thursday night we decided to go out to eat, as we usually did at some point of the day whenever we achieved something or failed to produce anything for a very long time. As I said, time was of essence hence eating out in least possible time was always favoured. That meant something close by. The other factor was our light pockets during those days and the debts we had taken from almost everyone we knew (I hope we returned all of them!).

So, if some of you haven’t already guessed, this is a page from the days we were working on the (second robot). I like to call that period The Robotic Age. Anyway, PNEC being situated in a prime location – Karsaz, the obvious choice to eat was Mohammed Ali Society. Perhaps, the cheapest place there was Ideal Restaurant (ideal, indeed). I don’t remember how many of us went there but I’m sure about three (including myself). The other two included Atif (the guy in the video) and Munzir (deserves a whole post for his achievements and geniuses). On that team of four, two of us had cars. That particular day, I left mine at home (because my father was in Karachi) so we went out for dinner on Munzir’s car hoping that it doesn’t stop midway. The car obliged, and we were relieved, obviously. After satiating ourselves with some nice (and cheap) food and discussing further plans on how to make the night more productive we decided to leave.

The driver (Munzir) turned the key and the engine roared. The car moved, and we were almost assured of reaching back to PNEC which was only a few minutes drive. But then Uncle Murphy had to come in somewhere!! The car stopped, running short of fuel of either kind i.e. petrol and CNG. We tried giving it a push several times, but the car did not respond as if it was comatosed (is that a word?). We shared a few laughs partly because we knew that was likely to happen. In fact, it should have happened earlier! (more…)

Mustafa Kamal #2? Karachi #57

It was well publicized that Mustafa Kamal has been ranked as the 2nd best mayor in the world. The news made the frontpage in almost every paper. This came as no surprise for the residents of Karachi who have actually witnessed the change. But there are people who’re just unable to digest this news.

A well respected Jamaat-e-Islami member said yesterday that this is a propaganda by MQM!! He added that Mustafa Kamal is actually ranked as #57. I checked on the Foreign Policy website and the link is:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4509&page=3

It says clearly who the top three mayors (edit: no rankings!) are. The numbers in the brackets are the ranking of the city.

Similarly, PTI (yeah, it stands for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) boasts on its website that this ranking is false and they called FP magazine to confirm that! Members of PTI (I hardly know of anyone other than Imran Khan) have a forum where they say that Mustafa Kamal is best “when it comes to build collapsable flyovers.” Now, collapsable flyovers is a fantastic idea though, but the author is referring to the Shershah flyover that collapsed. It must be noted that Shershah flyover wasn’t a project of CDGK and Mustafa Kamal had no involvement in it. It was a project of NHA (National Highway Authority), which is a federal organization.

To hell with PTI, congratulations to Mustafa Kamal (edit) for being mentioned.

An Eventful Journey

The journey couldn’t have been worse! The only (and only) satisfaction is that I’ve finally made it to Abu Dhabi. I can write a book over this but I really wish to forget this one. The highlights of this much awaited trek include:

• Chaos at the airport entrance due to renovations by CAA, which resulted in a one-hour wait in a queue (was there a queue????)
• Passport Control at Jinnah International, Karachi, where a bunch of illiterate old asses were keying in the passenger info and taking helluva time
• Delay in flight, but this wasn’t unexpected!
• People evironing me in the plane. Oh they were disgusting, and I mean it. With no offence at all, but you can’t really feel good when the people around you remove their shoes and you’re forced to inhale the stinking socks!
• Technical faults at the Dubai International Airport. Apparently, the gate wasn’t opening and the aircraft was told to move to another parking spot.
• A long line at the Visa Collection Center…aaahh!!! At this time I was exhausted!
• But the fun wasn’t over! A HUGE queue at passport control awaited us where a rude lady welcomed me to Dubai!
• And then when I finally got out I thought this was over and I could go home in the next 2 hours, I was immediately proved wrong. Actually my dad gave the car for valet parking, and they took more than 30 minutes to get the car back from somewhere they park (or rather dump) it!!